(11-10-2016 02:05 PM)JustAnotherAustinOwl Wrote:  Trump's rhetoric on Muslims has been extremely heated and hateful at times.

I probably didn't pay near enough attention to Trump's public pronouncements, in part because I didn't anticipate him being the nominee, much less the President elect.

I do know he was calling for an outright ban on Muslim immigration, which I suspect is unconstitutional, at least at some level.

Do you have examples of the heated and hateful rhetoric? I can well imagine rhetoric that matches that description, but want to get a frame of reference on what he actually said and what meets the 'heated and hateful' qualifiers.

As noted earlier, if someone has an unfavorable view of Islam (as a belief system) that doesn't automatically translate to bigotry, hatred or inappropriate behavior, and shouldn't be equated with racism.

As I noted earlier, we all understand there are secular/modern adherents of Islam, and more historic/fundamental adherents. There are nominal Muslims and there are the Sunni/Shia branches.

Given that there are governments that practice Sharia Law, and that 'honor killings' are condoned in many areas of the Muslim world, and that in order for the Pakistani government to allow someone to escape the death penalty for converting (of their own free will) from Islam to Christianity, the defendant had to be declared 'insane', the differing level of rights afforded non-Muslims in the Koran, combined with ISIS/Al Queda, terrorist acts in Europe

I think that it's not unfair to characterize some aspects of Islamic belief antithetical to our Constitution. And that's without addressing the restrictions on women's rights.

I don't believe the "Islamophobia" you're referring to has any similarities to racism in its genesis. I believe it has more to do with unfavorable views of the belief system.

To put it a little differently. I don't think anyone has an issue with Germans immigrating to this country. However, if someone is an avowed Nazi, IIRC we had definite restrictions on who we would let in the country after WWII.

Certainly neo-Nazi groups are not on the top of the list that most of us want to propogate and protect. They have rights here, but the party is outlawed in Germany.

Liberals seem to be concerned about the levels of non-college educated white, males supporting Trump.

I believe we need to treat Muslims the same as anyone else, that their rights, freedoms and safety should be guaranteed. I echo President Bush's sentiments that when sought out the perpetrators of 9/11, we needed to avoid the bigotry of tying over a billion people, the majority of whom are peaceful, with the actions of extremists. But the belief system itself does not by nature lend itself to 'freedom of belief' or 'equal treatment under the law' to non-adherents.

Based on your posts, I suspect you are concerned about potential rises in racism or neo-Nazism. Agreed that would be bad.

But given the above, how is your concern different than what you are labeling 'Islamophobia'?